Phase 2, Week 2 - Variation on a Theme

I know that the thousands of you who avidly follow this blog...



...will have read that I can't stand running machines, treadmills or whatever else you'd like to call them.  So why, you may ask yourself, did I find myself, earlier today, pounding along on one with nothing to look at but my own blubbery reflection in the mirror wall against which it was situated?

The answer, dear reader, is that d'missus has just bought a new pair of running shoes and wanted to try them out on a 'treadie' so that she could take them back if they weren't right for her.  I had another set of intervals to do and so it seemed to make perfect sense to combine the two activities.

Speaking to one of the assitants in the local gym at Maindy Pool, I found that I couldn't programme in the desired intervals and after much discussion he suggested that I try upping the speed to '13' (about 4:30 / km), running for 2 minutes and then slowing it down to '7.5' and doing a jogged recovery for 2 minutes.  He suggested 5 reps' but I did 6, setting the last speed at '14.1' (4:15 / km) and was a very sweaty mess by the end of it.  These places always seem too hot for my liking.

That done, I was going to do the gym session there, as I was in a gym and had just paid the princely sum of £3.65 for the privilage, but there were too many people there (haven't they got work to do?) so I came home to the safety of the cobwebs and the cold in my garage.

There's some new stuff in my list of tortures this week.  These include 100s, ski squats and crunches on the ball with dumbbells.  I haven't had a chance to see the eponymous Mr Shelbourne this week so I'm yet to find out if what I'm doing is correct.  He did show me how to do 100s a couple of weeks ago which I think are sitting on the floor with your hands out just behind you for support, raise your feet slightly off the ground, then raise and drop them a further 6 inches or so, 100 times in each set.  By the last set I'd got to about 55 before I had to put my feet down for 2 seconds and then I limped to the 100 mark by doing 20 at a time.  Bloody hell that was hard.

There is also more veriety in the exercises he's given me for the gym session this week.  For example wide and narrow grip press-ups and standing 1 leg shoulder presses (I've added an extra set of those from what you put so that I don't favour one leg!).

The addition of arm sprinting, nipple waggling and face bouncing have also made for interesting gym sessions but I think I'll leave the scrotum stretching until I'm a little more supple as I don't seem to be able to get my teeth in just the right place.  I sometimes feel like I've got one too many vertebrae.